Method and apparatus for converting a voice signal received from a remote telephone to a text signal

ABSTRACT

A telephone call is established between a local telephone ( 110 ) associated with a local party and a remote telephone ( 104 ) associated with a remote party. The local telephone ( 110 ) receives a voice signal from the remote telephone ( 104 ) responsive to establishing the telephone call. The voice signal represents directory assistance information, a name, a phone number or directions provided by the remote party. The local telephone ( 110 ) stores the voice signal in a memory unit ( 212 ) in the local telephone ( 110 ) responsive to receiving the voice signal. The local telephone ( 110 ) converts the voice signal to a text signal responsive to storing the voice signal. The local telephone ( 110 ) stores the text signal in the memory unit ( 214 ) in the local telephone ( 110 ) responsive to converting the voice signal to a text signal. The local telephone ( 110 ) edits the stored text signal in the memory unit responsive to storing the text signal. The local telephone ( 110 ) correlates the remote party&#39;s identity with the stored voice and/or text signal responsive to storing the voice and/or text signal. The local telephone ( 110 ) uses the stored edited text signal to make a new telephone call or to transfer the stored edited text signal to another electronic device.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a continuation of application Ser. No.10/410,586, filed Apr. 8, 2003, pending, which is a continuationapplication Ser. No. 09/391,426, filed Sep. 8, 1999, abandoned, all ofwhich are hereby incorporated herein in their entirety by thisreference.

BACKGROUND

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates generally to telephones, includinglandline and wireless telephones, and more particularly to a method andan apparatus for converting a voice signal, received from a remotetelephone, to a text signal.

2. Background of the Invention

With the widespread use of landline and cellular telephones, telephonenetwork providers have expanded the number and types of services andinformation available to such telephones. Some services or informationinclude, for example, voice mail, call waiting, call forwarding, threeway calling, caller identification, call blocking, automatic call back,basic and enhanced directory assistance, etc. However, the increasednumber and type of these services and information provides a user of atelephone with more information than ever before. Sometimes a user of atelephone is not able to quickly or efficiently understand or retain theamount of information received while using the telephone. For example,when a person is using a cellular phone while walking or driving, it ischallenging for the person to record, such as using a pen or pencil,directions, a name or even a phone number received as a voice signalfrom a remote telephone. Moreover, the person must manually enter therecorded information into a memory unit of a telephone, a personaldigital assistant, a personal computer, or another electronic device toelectronically store the information for later use or reference.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,749,052, issued May 5, 1998, entitled “CellularTelephone Management System” discloses at column 13, lines 8-29 a methodfor operating a cellular telephone. The cellular telephone receives aphone number, represented by dual tone multiple frequency (DTMF) signalsgenerated by a touch tone keypad, from a remote telephone operated by aremote caller during a telephone call. The DTMF signals received by thecellular telephone are converted into a phone number, stored in ascratchpad memory in the cellular telephone and shown in a display ofthe cellular telephone. When the user of cellular telephone is finishedtalking to the remote caller and terminates the call, the number enteredin the scratchpad memory remains in the display. To dial the phonenumber shown in the display and stored in the scratchpad memory, theuser of the cellular telephone depresses the send key on the keyboard ofthe cellular telephone. Although this patent discloses receiving andstoring a phone number represented by DTMF signals generated by theremote telephone, this patent does not disclose that the cellulartelephone receives a voice signal from a remote telephone and convertsthe voice signal to a text signal for storage in the cellular telephone.

Motorola, Inc., having a place of business at 600 North U.S. Highway 45,Libertyville, Ill., 60048, U.S.A. and having an internet web sitelocated at http://www.motorola.com, sells a cellular telephone modelV3620 with a built in voice answering machine. The voice answeringmachine records voice signals sent from a remote telephone when the userof cellular telephone is not available to answer an incoming telephonecall from the remote telephone and plays back the recorded voice signalsat the user's convenience. Although this cellular telephone receives andstores voice signals received from the remote telephone when the user ofthe cellular telephone is not available, this cellular telephone doesnot convert the received or stored voice signals from the remotetelephone into text signals for storage in the cellular telephone.

TT Systems, Corporation, having a business location at Seven OdellPlaza, Yonkers, N.Y., 10701, U.S.A. and having an internet web sitelocated at http://www.ttsystems.com, sells a series of devices calledTele-Recorders™, including the Tele-Recorder™ 100, 300, 400 and 500products. These devices are external devices that connect to landlinetelephones for recording live conversations on the phone line connectedto the landline telephone that is in use. Some of these devices may alsobe used for dictation, personal memos, or recording local conferenceswhen the landline telephone is not in use. Some of these devices have avoice activated system which starts and stops recording by detectingvoice or sound so that no recording occurs during silent pauses.Although these devices receive and store voice signals received from aremote telephone during a telephone call, these devices do not convertthe received or stored voice signals into text signals for storage inthe devices.

Dragon Systems, Incorporated, having a business location at 320 Nev.Street, Newton, Ma 02460, U.S.A. and having an internet web site locatedat http://www.dragonsys.com, sells a portable recorder called DragonNaturallySpeaking™ Mobile. The recorder records voice signals fordictation and personal memos. Dragon System's voice transcriptionsoftware installed in a personal computer automatically transcribeseither recorded voice signals from the recorder or live voice signalsinto text signals for storage in the personal computer. Although therecorder receives and stores voice signals, the recorder does notconvert the voice signals into text signals for storage in the recorder,the recorder is not a telephone and the recorder does not receive thevoice signals sent from a remote telephone. Further, although thepersonal computer transcribes voice signals into text signals using thevoice transcription software, the personal computer is not a telephoneand the personal computer does not receive the voice signals receivedfrom a remote telephone.

Accordingly, there is a need for a method and an apparatus forconverting a voice signal, received from a remote telephone, to a textsignal to permit electronic storage of the text signal in a memory unitthereby eliminating the need for a person to manually record thereceived information and then to manually transfer the recordedinformation into the memory unit.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of a telephone system in accordancewith a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram of an apparatus for converting avoice signal, received from the remote telephone, to a text signal inaccordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 illustrates a flowchart describing a method for converting avoice signal, received from the remote telephone, to a text signal inaccordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PRESENTLY PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a telephone call isestablished between a local telephone associated with a local party anda remote telephone associated with a remote party. The local telephonereceives a voice signal transmitted by the remote telephone responsiveto establishing the telephone call. The voice signal represents, forexample, directory assistance information, a name, a phone number,directions or other information provided by the remote party. The localtelephone stores the voice signal in a memory unit, located preferablyin the local telephone, responsive to receiving the voice signal. Thelocal telephone converts the voice signal to a text signal responsive tostoring the voice signal in the memory unit. The local telephone storesthe text signal in the memory unit responsive to converting the voicesignal to a text signal. The local telephone edits the stored textsignal in the memory unit responsive to storing the text signal. Thelocal telephone correlates the remote party's identity with the storedvoice and/or text signal responsive to storing the voice and/or textsignal in the memory unit. The local telephone uses the stored editedvoice and/or stored edited text signal to make a new telephone call, orto transfer the stored edited voice and/or stored edited text signal toa personal computing device or another telephone. The method ofoperation of the local telephone advantageously converts a voice signal,received from a remote telephone, to a text signal for electronicstorage in a memory unit in the local telephone thereby eliminating theneed for a person to manually record the received information and thento manually transfer the recorded information into the memory unit.

FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of a telephone system 100 inaccordance with the preferred embodiment of the present invention. FIG.1 generally includes a landline telephone network 102, landlinetelephones 104 and 106, a radio telephone network 108, radio telephones110 and 112, and a telephone network service provider 114. The landlinetelephone network 102 provides communications between the landlinetelephones 104 and 106, as is well known in the art. The radio telephonenetwork 108 provides communications between radio telephones 110 and112, as is well known in the art. The landline telephone network 102 andthe radio telephone network 108 communicate to provide a communicationnetwork 116 to route communications between the landline telephones 104and 106 and the radio telephones 110 and 112, as is well known in theart. The telephone network service provider 114 is typically associatedwith the landline telephone network 102 and typically communicatesdirectory assistance information to the radio telephones 110 and 112 andto the landline telephones 104 and 106. Such directory assistanceinformation typically includes basic information such as a name, anaddress and/or a phone number of a person or a business, for example,and sometimes includes relatively complicated information such asdirections to a particular place, such as a restaurant, as are wellknown in the art.

In general, the preferred embodiment of the present invention is amethod performed at least partially by a telephone subscriber unit thatcommunicates over a communication network. In FIG. 1, the telephonesubscriber units 118 are represented by, but not limited to, thelandline telephones 104 and 106 and the radio telephones 110 and 112.The term telephone subscriber unit generally represents any type oftelephone device that can make and/or receive telephone calls. In FIG.1, the communication network is represented by, but not limited to, thelandline telephone network 102 and the radio telephone network 108. Theterm communication network generally represents any type ofcommunication path that can carry telephone calls. Therefore, thetelephone subscriber units may also represent integral parts of otherdevices such as personal computers or personal digital assistants.Further, the communication network may also represent an internet orintranet permitting communication among various computing or telephonedevices, whether fixed or mobile.

In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the terms “localtelephone” and “remote telephone” are used and generally refer to firstand second telephone subscriber units, respectively, communicating overa communication path. The terms “local” and “remote” are used to providea more concrete perspective from which to view the method of the presentinvention implemented in one telephone relative to another telephone.The local telephone is associated with a local party operating the localtelephone. The remote telephone is associated with a remote partyoperating the remote telephone. The method of the present invention maybe implemented in any of the subscriber telephone units independently ofany other of the telephone subscriber units or of the communicationnetwork in the telephone system. For convenient reference herein thelocal telephone is arbitrarily defined to be radio telephone 110 and theremote telephone is arbitrarily defined to be landline telephone 104.

In particular, the preferred embodiment of the present invention is amethod, performed at least partially by a local telephone, forconverting a voice signal, received from a remote telephone, to a textsignal. Therefore, two telephones are communicating over a communicationnetwork. One of the telephones, the so called local telephone, has themethod of the preferred embodiment implemented therein and receives avoice signal from another one of the telephones, the so called remotetelephone. The local telephone enables the received voice signal to beconverted to a text signal for electronic storage in a memory unit. Theremote telephone does not need to have any particular software orhardware configuration and may be a conventional telephone. Thus, themethod may be implemented in new telephones without regard to anychanges in existing telephones to yield the advantages disclosed herein.

The advantages of a telephone providing this method of operation aresignificant. By converting voice signal, received from the remotetelephone, to the text signal for electronic storage in the memory unitthe need for a person to manually record the received information andthen to manually transfer the recorded information into the memory unitis eliminated. Thus, a telephone having this capability permits a personto capture information in an electronic format without having to use apaper and pencil. This advantage is especially useful in a mobileenvironment, such as with cellular radio telephones, when a person usingthe telephone is on the move, such as when walking or driving, andcannot conveniently write down the received information. Further, anyinformation written down on paper is at risk of being misplaced or lostbefore the person needs the information for reference or for enteringinto the telephone or another electronic device. Therefore, a telephonehaving this method give a person using the telephone an increasedability to capture the received information without impeding theperson's mobility or without the need for the person to have additionalmanual recording devices, such as a pencil and paper.

FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram of an apparatus for converting avoice signal, received from the remote telephone, to a text signal inaccordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention. In thepreferred embodiment of the present invention, the apparatus is thelocal telephone 110. The local telephone 110 generally includes acontroller 202, a communications interface circuit 204, data input keys206, a display 208, a voice signal to text signal processor 210, a firstmemory unit 212, a second memory unit 214, a speaker 216, a microphone218, a caller identification unit 220, and an audio signal processor222. The controller 202 is coupled to the communications interfacecircuit 204, the data input keys 206, the display 208, the voice signalto text signal processor 210, the first memory unit 212, the secondmemory unit 214, the caller identification unit 220 and the audio signalprocessor 222.

The communications interface circuit 204 communicates voice, data and/orvideo signals between the local telephone 110 and the remote telephone104 via the communication network or directly with the remote telephone104. When the local telephone 110 is a radio telephone, as in thepreferred embodiment, the communications interface circuit 204 typicallyincludes a radio frequency (RF) transmitter, a RF receiver and a radiofrequency synthesizer, as is well known in the art. Alternatively, whenthe local telephone is a landline telephone, the communicationsinterface circuit 204 typically includes a tip and ring circuit, as iswell known in the art. Still alternatively, when the local telephone isan internet telephone, the communications interface circuit 204typically includes an analog modem coupled to a conventional landlinetelephone line, a digital subscriber modem coupled to a digitalsubscriber line associated with the landline telephone network, or acable subscriber modem coupled to a coaxial cable.

The data input keys 206 generate data signals for input to thecontroller 202 responsive to manual actuation thereof by the localparty. The data input keys 206 generally includes, but is not limitedto, a traditional three by four keypad, a touch screen input device, andsmart or control keys. When the local telephone 110 is a radiotelephone, as in the preferred embodiment, the traditional three by fourkeypad or the touch screen input device is typically located on a frontface of the radio telephone's housing and the smart or control keys arelocated on one or both of the front face and a side face of the radiotelephone housing. Alternatively, when the local telephone is a landlinetelephone, the data input keys 206 are typically located on a front faceof the landline telephone's housing. Still alternatively, when the localtelephone is an internet telephone, the data input keys 206 aretypically located on a keyboard separate from or integrated with theinternet telephone.

The display 208 receives data signals from the controller 202 to presentvisual information for the local party on the display 208. The display208 may be implemented with any type of display technology including,but not limited to, liquid crystal displays (LCD), light emitting diodedisplays (LED), liquid plasma displays (LPD), vacuum florescent displays(VFD) and cathode ray tubes (CRT). When the local telephone 110 is aradio telephone, as in the preferred embodiment, the display 208 istypically located on a front face of the radio telephone's housing.Alternatively, when the local telephone is a landline telephone, display208 is typically located on a front face of the landline telephone'shousing. Still alternatively, when the local telephone is an internettelephone, display 208 is typically a thin film transistor (TFT) LCD ora CRT either separate from or integral to the internet telephone.

The voice signal to text signal processor 210 preferably represents acomputer memory having voice to text transcription software associatedtherewith Alternatively, the voice signal to text signal transcriptionmay be implemented fully in hardware, such as a digital signal processor(DSP). The voice signal to text signal processor 210 may be of a basicdesign capable of only transcribing synthesized voice signalsrepresenting numeric data, such as a telephone number, or a somewhatmore advanced design capable of transcribing live voice signalsrepresenting numeric data, such as a telephone number, or an even moreadvanced design capable of transcribing live voice signals representingalpha or numeric information, such as a telephone number, a name ordirections. The level of design of the voice signal to text signalprocessor 210 depends upon such engineering tradeoffs such as the powerof the processor and the complexity of the voice to text transcriptionsoftware.

The first memory unit 212 generally represents a medium for storing avoice signal. The first memory unit 212 may be implemented with any typeof memory technology including, but not limited to, analog and digitalmemory technology.

The second memory unit 214 generally represents a medium for storing adata or text signal. The first memory unit 212 may be implemented withany type of memory technology including, but not limited to, analog anddigital memory technology. The first memory unit 212 may include atelephone scratchpad memory location in the second memory unit and/or atelephone directory memory location in the second memory unit. Thetelephone scratchpad memory location and the telephone directory memorylocation alone are well known in the art.

The first memory unit 212 and the second memory unit 214 may beimplemented in the same physical device such as in a digital memory chipor may be implemented in separate physical devices such as when thefirst memory unit 212 is implemented with an analog memory device, suchas a tape drive, and the second memory unit 214 is implemented with adigital memory chip.

The caller identification unit 220 generally represents a way for thelocal party to electronically determine a representation of the identityof the remote party, such as the remote party's name and/or phonenumber. The identity of the remote party caller may be provided by atelephone network service provider and decoded by the calleridentification unit 220 or may be determined by the calleridentification unit 220 without the assistance of the telephone networkservice provider. The caller identification unit 220 may be implementedeither integral to or separate from a telephone, as is well known in theart.

With the voice transcription technology available today, the voice totext signal processor 210, the second memory unit 214 and the display208 could practically be implemented in the local telephone 110,configured as a cellular radio telephone, to perform a basic voicetranscription function mentioned hereinabove as only transcribing realor synthesized voice signals representing numeric data, such as atelephone number. As is discussed hereinbelow with reference to FIG. 3,providing only this basic voice transcription function completely in thelocal telephone 110, such as a cellular radio telephone, provides thepowerful advantage of capturing real or synthesized voice telephonedirectory information from the telephone network service provider 114for conversion to a text signal for electronic storage in the secondmemory unit 214 in the local telephone 110.

However, today a cellular radio telephone may not have the processingpower, memory space or battery power available to perform more advancedvoice transcription functions discussed hereinabove with reference tothe voice to text signal processor 210. Therefore, the voice to textsignal processor 210, the second memory unit 214 and the display 208 mayalternatively be located in an electronic device which is separate fromand outside the housing of the local telephone 110. The electronicdevice may be, for example, a desktop personal computer, a portablenotebook personal computer, a personal digital assistant, or the like.Hence, the local telephone 110, such as a cellular radio telephone, mayreceive and store the first voice signal in the first memory unit 212when the first voice signal is received from the remote telephone 104.Then the local party would electronically couple the local telephone 110to the other electronic device to permit the other electronic device todownload the first voice signal from the first memory unit in the localtelephone 110 to the electronic device. Such electronic coupling may bemade, for example, by a wire, a radio or an infrared frequency signal, ahousing connection having electrical contacts, or the like. Then theelectronic device would convert the downloaded first voice signal to thefirst text signal and electronically store the first text signal in thesecond memory unit 214 in the electronic device. The first text signalstored in the second memory unit 214 of the electronic device may remainthere or be transferred back to the local telephone 110, at the localparty's discretion. This particular case advantageously permits thelocal telephone to capture the first voice signal from the remotetelephone 104 for later processing into a text signal by more powerfulvoice transcription software and hardware located in the externaldevice. Note that both this remote voice transcription system and theself-contained voice transcription system described hereinabove may beimplemented in the same local telephone 110 to advantageously providethe local party with the flexibility to use either system depending onthe complexity of the first voice signal and the sophistication of thelocal telephone and the external electronic device. As technologyadvances, it is preferred to move as much voice transcription technologyand power into the local telephone to provide the local party with themost mobility, such as with a cellular radio telephone, or the mostautonomy, such as with a landline telephone.

FIG. 3 illustrates a flowchart 300 describing a method for converting avoice signal, received from the remote telephone, to a text signal inaccordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention. In thepreferred embodiment of the present invention, the method is performedentirely by the local telephone 110.

At step 302, the method begins. At step 304, a telephone call isestablished between the local telephone 110 associated with the localparty and the remote telephone 104 associated with the remote party. Inthe preferred embodiment of the present invention, the telephone call isestablished by the local telephone 110 making the telephone call to theremote telephone 104. In this case, the local party makes the telephonecall to the remote telephone 104 associated with the network serviceprovider 114 to request directory assistance information from thetelephone network service provider 114. The local party may make thecall in any manner, such as by recalling a telephone number from thetelephone directory portion of the second memory 214, by manuallyinputting the telephone number using the data input keys 206 or byinputting the telephone number by speaking the telephone number into avoice recognition device, such as the microphone 218 coupled to thevoice to text signal processor 210. Alternatively, the telephone callmay be established by the local telephone 110 receiving the telephonecall from the remote telephone 104, as is well known in the art.

At step 306, the local telephone 110 receives a first voice signal fromthe remote telephone 104 during the telephone call responsive to thestep of establishing at step 304. In the preferred embodiment of thepresent invention, the first voice signal received from the remotetelephone 104 is a synthesized or live voice signal generated by theremote party associated with the telephone network service provider 114during the telephone call. The synthesized or voice signal generated bythe telephone network service provider 114 represents informationrequested or desirable to the local party such as, for example, atelephone number, a name of a person or business or directions to aparticular place.

Alternatively, at step 306, the first voice signal received from theremote telephone 104 may be a live voice signal generated by the remoteparty during the telephone call. In this case, the local party may bereceiving a telephone number or directions from the remote party, suchas a friend or family member.

Still alternatively, at step 306, the first voice signal received fromthe remote telephone 104 may be a stored voice signal generated by theremote party prior to establishment of the telephone call. In this case,the local party may be receiving a telephone number, directions or otherinformation from the remote party via an automated answering service.

Further, at step 306, in the preferred embodiment of the presentinvention, the local party is listening to the first voice signal as itis being received from the remote telephone, such as in the case whenthe local party requests directory assistance information.Alternatively, the local party may not need to listen to the first voicesignal as it is being received from the remote telephone, such as in thecase when a message is recorded by the local telephone 110 when thelocal party is absent or unable to answer an incoming telephone callfrom the remote telephone 104. In this case, the first voice signal maybe received at one time and then converted into a text signal at a latertime after the call has been completed.

At step 308, the local telephone 110 determines whether a storage promptsignal has been received. If the storage prompt signal has not beenreceived, the method waits for one to be received at step 308. If thestorage prompt signal has been received, the method continues to step310. In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the storageprompt signal is a distinctive audio service prompt signal generated bya telephone network service provider associated with the remote party.One example of a distinctive audio service prompt is well known in theart as consecutive high and low tones. The distinctive audio serviceprompt is typically generated responsive to a request for directoryassistance information from the local party associated with the localtelephone 110 to the telephone network service provider 114 associatedwith the remote party. The distinctive audio service prompt is part ofan automated information delivery service operated by the telephonenetwork service provider 114. The distinctive audio service prompttypically immediately precedes a synthesized voice signal having therequested information. The requested information may be presented in aformat such as: “The number you have requested is 815 555 1234.”Therefore, in this particular case the distinctive audio service promptadvantageously provides an automatic trigger for the local telephone 110to convert the received synthesized voice signal into a text signal. Thelocal telephone 110 may be controlled by a software menu feature or by amanual switch to enable or to disable this automatic trigger. Hence, inthis particular situation, the local party no long needs to have apencil and paper ready to write down the transmitted voice information.The local telephone 110 automatically captures the voice signal,converts the voice signal into a text signal and stores the text signalinto a memory unit for later reference or use.

Alternatively, at step 308, the storage prompt signal may be a commandsignal manually generated by the local party associated with the localtelephone 110 in real time while the telephone call is in process. Thelocal party may generate the command signal in any manner such as, forexample, by pressing one of smart or control keys of the data input keys206 during the telephone call. An advantage of this alternative is thatthe local party can arbitrarily determine which the voice signalsreceived from the remote party are to be converted into text signals. Inthis case the local party can record and/or transcribe particularreceived information, such as a name, telephone number and/or address inthe middle of a conversation with the remote party. After the localparty receives the desired information, the local party can manuallygenerate the command signal again to stop the recording and/or voicetranscription process. Feedback signals, such as a tone produced in thelocal telephone's earpiece speaker or loudspeaker, may be generated togive the local party that the command signal has been enabled and/ordisabled during the telephone call.

At step 310, the local telephone 110 determines whether the first voicesignal will be converted into a text signal in real time, as it isreceived from the remote telephone, or after the first voice signal isstored in the first memory unit 212. If the local telephone determinesto convert into a text signal in real time, then the step of storing thefirst voice signal at step 312 is bypassed and the method continues tostep 314. FIG. 2, line 224, alternatively shows an analogous hardwarebypass for the first memory unit 212. If the local telephone determinesnot to convert a voice signal into a text signal in real time, then themethod continues to step 312 to store the first voice signal. Thedetermination at step 310 may be a programmable feature or a fixedfeature of the local telephone depending on the desires of themanufacturer of the local telephone, the desires of the local party orthe sophistication of the local telephone. In the preferred embodimentof the present invention, the first voice signal is stored in the firstmemory unit 212 before being converted to the first text signal toprovide accurate and reliable transcription of the first voice signalinto the first text signal. Because the first voice signal is stored inthe first memory unit 212 the voice transcription software may read thestored first voice signal more than once, as in the real time case, toprovide redundant transcription for the best quality transcription.

At step 312, the local telephone 110 stores the first voice signal inthe first memory unit 212 responsive to the step of sensing the storageprompt signal at step 310. In the preferred embodiment of the presentinvention, the local telephone 110 stores the first voice signal in thememory unit in the local telephone 110 responsive to the step ofreceiving the distinctive audio service prompt signal and the step ofreceiving the synthesized or live voice signal from the telephonenetwork service provider 114.

At step 312, the local telephone 110 senses a conversion prompt signal.In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the conversionprompt signal is always activated, such as by a software menu selection,to permit the local telephone 110 to automatically convert thesynthesized voice signal from the telephone network service provider tothe first text signal for storage in the second memory unit 210 in thelocal telephone. Therefore, the local telephone 110 is always ready toconvert the first voice signal and to store the first text signal whendirectory assistance is requested. Alternatively, the conversion promptsignal may be manually activated, such as via smart or control keys ofthe data input keys 206 to permit the local party to arbitrarilydetermine which of the directory assistance synthesized voice messagesthey wish to have converted and stored as text signals.

At step 316, the local telephone 110 converts the first voice signal toa first text signal responsive to the step of sensing the conversionprompt signal at step 314. The step of converting is performed by thevoice to text signal processor 210 shown in FIG. 2. The voicetranscription software used to implement the voice to text signalconversion is well known in the art. In the preferred embodiment of thepresent invention, a basic voice transcription software is used totranscribe only synthesized or live voice signals representing numericdata, such as a telephone number, received from the telephone networkservice provider 114. Alternatively, when the voice to text signalprocessor 210 is implemented outside the local telephone 110, such as ina personal computer, a more advanced voice transcription software isused, such as Dragon NaturallySpeaking Preferred™ for Pentium™ III soldby Dragon Systems, Incorporated, or similar software. The voicetranscription software may be programmed to transcribe voice signalsrepresenting only alphabetical characters, only numeric characters, orboth alphabetical and numeric characters. In the preferred embodiment ofthe present invention, the transcription software is programmed totranscribe voice signals representing only numeric characters. In thiscase, any words formed with alphabetical characters are ignored by thetranscription software. By example, after the distinctive audio serviceprompt is received, the transcription software ignores the phrase “Thenumber you have requested is” and transcribes only the numericcharacters, representing the telephone number, “815 555 1234.”Therefore, any undesirable transcription is advantageously avoidedduring the transcription process to limit any necessary editing of thetranscribed text signals after the text signals have been transcribedand stored in the second memory unit 214.

At step 318, the first text signal is stored in the second memory unit214 responsive to the step of converting at step 316. In the preferredembodiment of the present invention, the second memory unit 214 islocated in the local telephone 110. Further details regarding the secondmemory unit 214 are discussed hereinabove with reference to FIG. 2.

Alternatively, during steps 306, 308, 310, 312, 314, 316 and 318 thelocal telephone 110 may also receive a second voice signal from anothertelephone during the telephone call. The second voice signal may bereceived at the same time as the first voice signal, as in a full duplexcommunication system (e.g. cellular or landline telephones) or may bereceived a different times as the first voice signal, as in a simplex orhalf duplex communication system (e.g. two way walkie talkies). In thepreferred embodiment of the present invention, the second voice signalis generated by the local party speaking into the microphone 218 of thelocal telephone 110. Alternatively, the second voice signal may begenerated by another remote party associated with a second remotetelephone, such as in a three way call scenario. In the preferredembodiment, at step 306, the local telephone 110 receives the secondvoice signal from the local telephone 110 during the telephone callresponsive to the step of establishing at step 304. At steps 308 and310, the determinations of whether the storage prompt signal is receivedand whether the received voice signal should be converted into the textsignal, respectively, are carried out in the same manner, as discussedhereinabove. At step 312, the local telephone 110 stores the secondvoice signal in the first memory unit 212 responsive to the stepreceiving of the second voice signal at step 306. At step 314, thedetermination of whether the conversion prompt signal has been receivedis carried out in the same manner, as discussed hereinabove. At step314, the local telephone 110 converts the second voice signal into asecond text signal. At step 318, the local telephone 110 stores thesecond text signal in the second memory unit 214 in the local telephone110 responsive to the step of converting the second voice signal intothe second text signal at step 508. After or in combination with step318, the local telephone 110 distinguishes between the first text signalstored in the second memory unit 214 and the second text signal storedin the second memory unit 214. This distinguishing step is needed whentwo or more voices are present in order for the local party to determinedifferences between the text spoken by the remote party and the textspoken by the local party, for instance. The different text signals,referenced to the different parties, may be distinguished in the secondmemory unit 214 in many ways, such as by using, for example, differenttitles, such as “remote caller” and “local caller,” immediatelypreceding the spoken text by the appropriate party, different font sizeor format, different columns on a page or screen, etc. The differenttext signals may also be distinguished by tone or level of voice,indication of male or female, order or simultaneous speaking of theparties, etc. By analogy only and without limitation, the text for twoor more parties could read like a script for a play having two or moreactors. All of the steps associated with multiple voice transcriptionassumes that the voice transcription software and hardware has the powerand sophistication in order to handle multiple voices.

At step 320, the local telephone 110 determines whether an indication ofan identity of the remote party associated with the telephone call isreceived. If the local telephone 110 determines that the indication ofan identity of the remote party has not been received then the methodcontinues to step 326; otherwise, the method continues to step 322. Theindication of an identity of the remote party associated with thetelephone call is generated by the caller identification unit 220 shownin FIG. 2. Caller identification units and their function are generallyknown in the art. In the preferred embodiment of the present invention,the indication of the identity of the remote party is a telephone numberand/or a name is generated by the telephone network service provider114. Alternatively, the indication of the identity of the remote partymay be a telephone number and/or a name of the remote partyautomatically generated by the local telephone 110. Still alternatively,the indication of the identity of the remote party may be a telephonenumber and/or a name of the remote party manually generated by the localparty.

At step 322, the local telephone 110 stores the indication of theidentity of the remote party in at least one of the first memory unit212 and the second memory unit 214.

At step 324, the local telephone 110 correlates the indication of theidentity of the remote party with at least one of the first voice signalstored in the first memory unit 212 in the local telephone 110 and thefirst text signal stored in the second memory unit 214 in the localtelephone 110. Steps 320, 322 and 324 advantageously permit a localparty to effectively tag the received information with the identity ofthe remote party sending the information. By example, the remote partymay tell the local party directions to a particular place. Steps 320,322 and 324 effectively add an electronic label, indicating the sourceof the directions, to the directions. Therefore, the local party doesn'tneed to either remember who gave the directions or manually enter intothe local telephone that gave the directions.

Steps 320, 322 and 324 are optional steps that may or may not beimplemented into a telephone, as determined by a manufacturer of thetelephone. Alternatively, steps 320, 322 and 324 may be menu drivenfeatures embodied within the software of the telephone, which may beselectively enabled or disabled by the local party.

Continuing with step 326, a determination is made whether or not to runan error checking program on the stored first text signal. If thedetermination is made to run the error checking program, the methodcontinues to step 328 to run the error checking program. If thedetermination is made to not run the error checking program, the methodcontinues to step 330. Depending on the type of error checking algorithmused in the error checking program at step 328, the method preferablyfeeds back from step 328 to one or more of steps 316, 318 and 326 inorder to make sure that the first text signal was converted and storedaccurately. Alternatively, an error checking program without feedbackmay be used. In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, arelatively simple error checking program is implemented in the localtelephone 110. However, steps 326 and 328 are optional and may not beimplemented or deactivated, if desirable. FIG. 2, line 226, shows thehardware connection between the second memory unit 214 and the voice totext processor 210 to permit these two circuits to communicate with eachother to implement the error checking program.

At step 330, a determination is made whether or not to edit the storedfirst text signal. In the preferred embodiment of the present invention,this determination is made by a local party using the local telephone topermit the local party to advantageously correct or change the storedfirst text signal. For example, if the synthesized voice signal onlycontained a seven digit phone number, the local party may add the properthree digit area code to the seven digit phone number stored in thesecond memory unit 214 prior to storing the full ten digit phone numberin a telephone directory location of the second memory unit 214.Alternatively, this determination may be made by the local telephoneitself responsive to, for example, a software menu selection in thelocal telephone 110. If the determination is made to edit the storedfirst text signal, then the method continues to step 332. Otherwise, ifthe determination is made not to edit the stored first text signal, thenthe method continues to step 342.

At step 332, a determination is made whether or not to edit the storedfirst text signal or a copy of the stored first text signal. If thedetermination is made to edit the stored first text signal, then themethod continues to step 340. Otherwise, if the determination is made toedit copy of the stored first text signal, then the method continues tostep 334. In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, thisdetermination is made by a local party using the local telephone 110 topermit the local party to advantageously correct or change the copy ofthe stored first text signal while comparing the edited copy of thestored first signal to the stored first signal itself.

At step 336, the local telephone 110 generates a copy of the first textsignal stored in the second memory unit 214 to produce a copy of thefirst text signal.

At step 338, the local telephone 110 stores the copy of the first textsignal in the second memory unit responsive to the step of generating atstep 334. In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, thelocal telephone 110 automatically makes a backup copy of the storedfirst text signal for the local party to reference just in case thelocal party made a mistake while editing the copy of the stored firsttext signal.

At step 338, the local telephone 110 edits the copy of the first textsignal responsive to the step of storing the first text signal at step336 to produce an edited first text signal. In the preferred embodimentof the present invention, the local party causes the local telephone 110to edit the copy of the first text signal by manipulating the data inputkeys 206. After step 338, the method continues to step 342.

Returning to step 340, the local telephone 110 edits the stored firsttext signal without making a backup copy. In the preferred embodiment ofthe present invention, the local party causes the local telephone 110 toedit the copy of the first text signal by manipulating the data inputkeys 206. After step 340, the method continues to step 342.

Continuing with step 342, the local telephone 110 provides one of theunedited first text signal and the edited first text signal stored inthe second memory unit 214 in the local telephone 110. This step ofproviding generally means that the local telephone uses the first textsignal in some way to benefit the local party, several ways of which areoutlined as follows. In the preferred embodiment of the presentinvention, the step 342 of providing is implemented as a step of makinga new telephone call by the local telephone 110 to a third telephoneusing the first text signal stored in the second memory unit 214 in thelocal telephone 110. The third telephone may be the remote telephone 104or another telephone. This step advantageously provides the local partywith the ability to make a new telephone call using the stored telephonenumber received as a voice signal from the telephone network serviceprovider 114.

Alternatively, the step 342 of providing may be implemented as the stepsof making a new telephone call by the local telephone 110 to a thirdtelephone using a new telephone number, different from the telephonenumber received from the remote telephone, and transmitting at least oneof the first voice signal stored in the first memory unit in the localtelephone 110 and the first text signal stored in the second memory unit214 to the third telephone. The third telephone may be the remotetelephone 104 or another telephone. This step advantageously providesthe local party with the ability to forward the stored voice or textsignal received from the remote telephone to the third telephone.

Still alternatively, the step 342 of providing may be implemented as thesteps of electrically coupling the local telephone 110 to an electronicdevice, such as a personal computing device, and transmitting the firsttext signal stored in the second memory unit 214 to the electronicdevice. This step advantageously provides the local party with theability to forward the stored text signal received from the remotetelephone to other electronic devices. For example, the local party maywith to transfer the stored text signals to a personal computer forinserting into a word processing file or an email message. Therefore,the local party does not need to take notes with a paper and pencilduring the telephone call while on the local telephone and then type thenotes into a personal computer to create a word document or send anemail message to someone to relay the notes. Similar advantageousapplications may be applied to personal digital assistants and otherelectronic devices.

In summary of the flowchart 300 the preferred embodiment of the presentinvention, as shown in FIG. 3, the method preferably includes step 304of establishing the telephone call, step 306 of receiving the firstvoice signal from the remote telephone, step 314 of converting thereceived first voice signal to the first text signal, and step 318 ofstoring the first text signal. All of the other steps shown anddescribed provide more features which may or may not be needed, used orimplemented depending on various engineering tradeoffs, marketingpreferences, feature options activated or not activated by the localparty, etc. At step 338, the method of the flowchart 300 ends.

As a brief overview of some of the features provided in this detaileddescription of the preferred embodiment, a local telephone receives avoice signal from a remote telephone and transcribes the received voicesignal into a text signal for storage in a memory unit. The scope oftranscription may range from a relatively simple transcription as whentranscribing numbers spoken by one party to relatively complextranscription as when transcribing a conversation spoken by two or moreparties. The transcription and storage processes may be implemented inone electronic device, such as a cellular telephone, or be implementedamong separate different electronic devices best suited for theirfunctions, such as a cellular telephone for storing the received voicesignal and a personal computer for transcribing the voice signal andstoring the text signal. The local telephone may be implemented moretypically as a landline or radio telephone, or more atypically as aninterface for a laptop computer or an integral part of a personalcomputer having internet or intranet telephone capabilities.

Hence, while the present invention has been described with reference tovarious illustrative embodiments thereof, the present invention is notintended that the invention be limited to these specific embodiments.Those skilled in the art will recognize that variations andmodifications can be made without departing from the spirit and scope ofthe invention as set forth in the appended claims.

1. A method for operating a local telephone comprising the steps of:establishing a telephone call between the local telephone associatedwith a local party and a remote telephone associated with a remoteparty; receiving a first voice signal at the local telephone from theremote telephone; storing the first voice signal in the local telephonein responsive to a storage prompt signal; converting the first voicesignal to a first text signal as the first voice signal is received fromthe remote telephone in response to a conversion prompt signal; storingthe first text signal in the local telephone; and editing the first textsignal to produce an edited first text signal.
 2. The method of claim 1further comprising: sensing a distinctive audio service prompt generatedby a telephone network service provider associated with the remote partyas the storage prompt signal.
 3. The method of claim 2 furthercomprising: transmitting a request for directory assistance from thelocal party associated with the local telephone to the telephone networkservice provider associated with the remote party; and receiving thedistinctive audio service prompt in response to the request.
 4. Themethod of claim 1 wherein the first voice signal received from theremote telephone further comprises one of: a live voice signal generatedby the remote party during the telephone call, a stored voice signalgenerated by the remote party prior to establishment of the telephonecall, and either a real or synthesized voice signal generated by theremote party associated with a telephone network service provider duringthe telephone call.
 5. The method of claim 1 further comprising:generating a copy of the first text signal; storing the copy of thefirst text signal in the local telephone, and subsequently editing thefirst text signal.
 6. The method of claim 1 wherein storing the firsttext signal comprises: storing data defining the first text signal in atleast one of: a telephone scratchpad memory location in the localtelephone, and a telephone directory memory location in the localtelephone.
 7. The method according to claim 1 further comprising:receiving an indication of an identity of the remote party associatedwith the telephone call; storing the indication of the identity of theremote party in the local telephone; and correlating the indication ofthe identity of the remote party with at least one of the first voicesignal and the first text signal.
 8. The method of claim 7 wherein thestep of establishing the telephone call further comprises the step of:making the telephone call by the local telephone to the remotetelephone; and wherein the indication of the identity of the remoteparty associated with the telephone call further comprises at least oneof: at least one of a telephone number and a name of the remote partygenerated by the local telephone, and at least one of a telephone numberand a name of the remote party generated by the local party.
 9. Themethod of claim 7, wherein establishing the telephone call furthercomprises: receiving the telephone call by the local telephone from theremote telephone; and wherein the indication of the identity of theremote party associated with the telephone call further comprises atleast one of: at least one of a telephone number and a name of theremote party generated by a telephone network service provider, at leastone of a telephone number and a name of the remote party generated bythe local telephone, and at least one of a telephone number and a nameof the remote party generated by the local party.
 10. The method ofclaim 1 further comprising one of: making a new telephone call by thelocal telephone to a third telephone responsive to at least one of thefirst voice signal and the first text signal; and: making a newtelephone call by the local telephone to a third telephone; andtransmitting at least one of the first voice signal and the first textsignal to the third telephone; and: electrically coupling the localtelephone to a personal computer; and transmitting at least one of thefirst voice signal and the first text signal to the personal computer.11. The method of claim 1 further comprising: receiving a second voicesignal from the local telephone during the telephone call; convertingthe second voice signal into a second text signal; storing the secondtext signal; and distinguishing between the first text signal and thesecond text signal.